Joshua Wright headed to rehab rather than prison after meth sentencing

WAMPSVILLE -- Despite repeated bad behavior while behind bars since being arrested in August in a Lenox Avenue meth bust, Joshua Wright was sentenced to a 90-day drug treatment program instead of state prison.

The 29-year-old was one of three people arrested in the Aug. 20 for a meth lab at 406 Lenox Avenue. The trio -- Wright, Jessica Beilly and Joseph Arocho -- were charged with manufacturing meth, possession of precursors to meth and possession of a controlled substance after police found 16 ounces of liquid meth and 12 one-pot meth lab containers. The street value of the drugs seized from the apartment exceeded $45,000.

Wright pleaded guilty to third-degree unlawfully manufacturing meth, a class D felony, in Madison County Court on Wednesday. Because of a 2005 fourth-degree grand larceny felony conviction, his sentencing was more severe.

A four-year state prison sentence was exchanged for a 90-day treatment program at the Willard Drug Treatment Campus in Seneca County. If he successfully completes the program, he will serve the remainder of the four-year sentence on parole and then undergo two years of post-release supervision.

Advertisement

Admittance into the program requires the person to have a previous non-violent felony conviction and a documented history of criminal activity induced by the use of drugs.

As Wright's defense attorney Lawrence Brown and Judge Dennis McDermott debated whether or not his drug abuse directly caused his criminal tendencies, Brown said he has had alcohol and drug abuse problems his entire life.

Brown said Wright has told him that he's glad he was caught making and using meth because the drug would have killed him.

"He knows drugs have put him where he is," Brown said.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Bob Mascari requested that the offer to send Wright to Willard be withdrawn altogether, given his behavior in Madison County Jail since his arrest. Three separate incidents of bad behavior resulted in him being placed in "lock down," including citations for fighting with other inmates and jail staff and ripping his mattress apart and flushing pieces of it down the toilet, causing the room to flood. He and his girlfriend were also charged with promoting prison contraband after she attempted to smuggle in illicit drugs for him.

McDermott questioned his claim that drugs have led him to commit crimes, saying he was not under the influence while in jail and still managed to be disruptive.

"He's off the drugs and he's still doing this stuff," he said.

His attorney responded with allegations there are illegal drugs inside the jail that Wright had access to.

Wright had been using meth on a daily basis before being caught making it. He described himself as the "mastermind" behind the Lenox Avenue meth lab and admitted to police that after becoming addicted to the drug almost instantaneously, he looked up a recipe and directions on how to make it on the internet.

"What I did was wrong," Wright said. "I know that. It's time to grow up."

His decision to make meth in his apartment not only put himself in danger, but others, McDermott said. Taking a "trial and error" approach to making the drug, Wright has said that there were frequent small explosions in the apartment as a result of combining such volatile chemicals.

McDermott said Willard will be perfect for Wright if he's sincere about getting better. He warned him that it won't be a "day at the beach."

The program is a combination of boot camp and intensive drug treatment with rigid structure and discipline. If Wright does not successfully complete the program he will be required to serve the remainder of his four year sentence in state prison.

Wright called Willard his shot at bettering his life and staying out of trouble.

One of his counterparts in the meth lab, Beilly, has already been sentenced to time served and five years of probation. She will receive treatment at Liberty Resource's Venture House. Arocho's case has not reached a plea agreement yet.